UNESCO CULTURAL STATUS SOUGHT FOR THE BAGUETTE

The baguette — a mix of wheat flour, water, yeast, salt and a pinch of savoir faire and as much a symbol of France as the Eiffel Tower — may soon join UNESCO's listing of cultural treasures.

Bakers say the traditional loaf, whose purchase from the local bakery has for decades been a ritual in French daily life, is being pushed off shop shelves, even in France, by frozen bread sticks made on giant assembly lines.

The UNESCO listing would protect a know-how passed through generations and shield the baguette from impostors around the world.

“There's not one single secret to making a good traditional baguette,” said Mickael Reydellet, owner of eight bakeries. “It requires time, a savoir faire, the right way of baking, good flour without additives.”